Relationship of serum haloperidol levels to clinical response in schizophrenic patients

Abstract

The authors treated 16 outpatients and 1 inpatient who had diagnoses of schizophrenia in exacerbation with haloperidol as the sole neuroleptic agent and obtained ratings of psychopathology and serum levels of haloperidol. Improvement in schizophrenic symptoms measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale was significantly greater in patients who had mean haloperidol serum concentrations in the range of 8-18 ng/ml than in patients whose mean haloperidol serum concentration fell outside this range.

Mechanisms of Action of Antipsychotic Drugs of Different Classes, Refractoriness to Therapeutic Effects of Classical Neuroleptics, and Individual Variation in Sensitivity to their Actions: PART II

“…From the 20 studies used to plot Fig. 2 , three [4,70,71] give individual data (in total for 73 subjects) on “BPRS total” change scores, expressed as difference rather than percentage change. From this, the SD for the change score is 13.59 BPRS unit, quite similar to the weighted mean SD for the placebo groups in the meta-analysis of placebo effects [127].…”

“…References:a:[71];b:[33];c:[77];d:[128];e:[45];f:[4];g:[110];h:[70];i:[6];j:[97];k:[109];l:[93];m:[59];n:[103];o:[57];p:[114];q:[95];r:[125];s:[121];t:[120]. …”

Antipsychotic Drugs Inhibit Platelet Aggregation via P2Y1and P2Y12Receptors

“…Furthermore, APDs used in this study inhibited fibrinogen receptor-mediated TXA 2 and arachidonic acid release in activated platelets. Although all higher doses of APDs reduced the aggregative ability of platelets, the serum levels of risperidone, clozapine, or haloperidol in patients were about 1 × 10 −7 M, 1 × 10 −6 M, and 2 × 10 −8 M, respectively [ 39 – 41 ]. Our data suggests that clinically relevant therapeutic doses of haloperidol do not affect platelet function.…”